Erica stokoeanthus E.G.H.Oliv.

Erect dense shrub to 1.2 m tall, single-stemmed reseeder. Branches: many erect main branches continuing growth and numerous flowering side branches 3-15 mm long, pubescent when young, later with long plumose hairs admixed, the hairs erect to spreading, no infrafoliar ridges. Leaves 3-nate, erect-imbricate to spreading, 3.0-4.0 x 0.5 mm, oblong to lanceolate, apex acute, adaxially flattened, abaxially acute and narrowly sulcate, acute-angular, glabrous, ciliate often with an apical tuft, margin becoming glabrous; petiole 0.5-0.8 mm long, adpressed, glabrous, ciliate. Inflorescence: flowers 3-nate in 1(2) whorls, terminal at ends of lateral branchlets aggregated into dense clusters towards ends of main branches; pedicel very short 0.1 mm long, glabrous, green to red; bract partially recaulescent, approximate and adpressed to calyx, 1.5 x 0.5 mm, narrowly ovate, apex acute, keeled and sulcate in upper half, rounded basally, glabrous, ciliate with apical tuft, white with greenish to reddish keeltip; bracteoles approximate, like bract but slightly smaller. Calyx 4-partite, segments 1.8 x 0.6-0.7 mm, ovate to narrowly elliptic-ovate, two outer basally imbricate, the inner slightly narrower, apex acute, keeled along the sulcus, sulcus narrow about 1/2 the length of segment, adpressed to corolla, arched inwards and boat-shaped, glabrous, ciliate, sometimes also with a few sessile glands, green. Corolla 4-lobed, 2.0 x 1.75 mm, urceolate to broadly ellipsoid-ovoid, with 8 distinct obtuse to subacute angles in lower half, glabrous, white, becoming thickened and hard with age and turning red-brown with slightly reticulate surface; lobes erect to spreading, basally imbricate, 0.7 x 1.0 mm, broadly rounded to subacute, erose. Stamens 4, free, manifest; filaments broadly linear, glabrous, with sigmoid bend below anther; anthers dorsally attached near base, oblong-elliptic, spurred; thecae erect, 1.3 x 0.3 mm, narrowly ovate, finely aculeate especially on edges, golden brown; spurs attached just above filament joint, ±0.2 mm long, linear, spreading to recurved, irregularly toothed; pore about 1/3 length of theca; pollen in tetrads. Ovary 2-locular, 0.75 x 0.5 mm, unequally ovoid laterally compressed, apex obtuse, glabrous; nectaries red and distinct around base; ovules [2]3(-5)[6] per locule, pendulous from a large placenta in upper half; style exserted, up to 1.5x as long as corolla, terete, glabrous, white; stigma slightly cyathiform becoming subpeltate with 2 distinct stigmatic processes, green to reddish. Fruit indehiscent, 2.0 x 1.7 mm, broadly ellipsoid, with style often shed and leaving round apical pore, protected by very hard corolla; pericarp thin, papery, very brittle, exocarp colliculate, thick-celled, mesocarp thin with numerous crystals, endocarp of very thin elongated cells, seeds ellipsoid, very slightly reticulate, light brown, testa thin crustaceous, cells elongate with undulate anticlinal walls, pitted.